Grandma Yvonne Ford, 59, from Barnsley, died after she was scratched by a stray dog under her sun lounger that she startled on a beach during a holiday in Morocco
Yvonne Ford died after she was scratched by a stray puppy in Morocco(Image: Cover Images)
The family of a woman who died after a playful puppy approached her on a beach have warned Brits of the reality of rabies at popular holiday destinations.
When Yvonne Ford and her husband Ron jetted off to Morocco in February 2025, they expected to return home with little more than happy holiday memories. Instead, what appeared to be nothing more than a tiny scratch would ultimately cost Yvonne her life.
The couple had been relaxing on sun loungers when a stray puppy approached them. At some point, it scratched 59-year-old Yvonne’s leg, leaving what appeared to be nothing more than a tiny mark. Looking back, Yvonne’s daughter, Robyn Thomson, says her parents never imagined the incident posed any danger.
“They were relaxing on the beach on the sun beds. Mum had put her legs down onto the sand and must have startled the puppy,” she says. “The puppy scratched her leg leaving a very minimal scratch on her leg.”
Yvonne and her husband Ron’s trip to Morocco last February ended in tragedy (Image: Cover Images)
“It barely broke the skin and looked so insignificant that she simply cleaned it with a wet wipe and carried on enjoying the holiday.” At the time, the family thought nothing more of it.
“It was Mum and Dad enjoying a holiday together, and none of us had any idea that such a tiny scratch could expose someone to rabies. We simply didn’t know,” Robyn, 33, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, said. “That tiny scratch had absolutely changed our lives forever.”
When Yvonne returned home to the UK, Robyn remembers asking whether she wanted to get the scratch checked, but Yvonne declined because it seemed so insignificant.
“If someone had told us then that such a tiny scratch could be fatal months later, we would never have believed it,” Robyn said. For weeks after returning home, Yvonne appeared perfectly healthy and life returned to normal.
Then, in early June, she developed a headache and, within days, her condition rapidly deteriorated, leading to her being admitted to Barnsley Hospital. She first developed a headache before eventually beginning to lose the ability to walk and talk.
“It was the most devastating thing we’ve ever been through,” Robyn said. “The disease spread through her body so rabidly once the symptoms started. It all started with a headache.” From there, her condition worsened with terrifying speed.
The family loved taking incredible trips around the world(Image: Cover Images)
“One minute, Mum was independent and full of life. Then she deteriorated so quickly,” Robyn said. “She became confused, frightened and started hallucinating. Eventually she couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk properly, couldn’t swallow, couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep.”
Robyn said that watching her mum deteriorate was excruciating. “As her daughter, watching someone you’ve looked up to your entire life become so desperately ill and knowing there was nothing anyone could do was unbearable.”
As Yvonne’s condition worsened, doctors struggled to determine what was making her so ill. Five agonising days passed before a psychiatrist, who initially suspected Lyme disease, recognised the symptoms and asked about her recent travel history.
“This is what I’ve found so hard, knowing that nobody knew what was causing my mum to be so poorly for the first five days until a doctor within the mental health sector suggested it could be a possibility,” Robyn said.
One of the things she remembers the most was the shock of being told that her mum had contracted rabies.
Yvonne’s daughter, Robyn Thomson, has a warning for other Brits(Image: Cover Images)
“It was the worst news we could have received because there was no cure, nothing to be done to bring mum back,” she said. “The damage was already done. Rabies was never something we imagined could affect our family. You associate it with something that happens somewhere else, not to your mum after a holiday. Especially with the scratch being so tiny and minimal.”
Yvonne was then transferred to the infectious disease unit at Sheffield’s Royal Hallamshire Hospital, where she died on June 11, four months after being scratched by the puppy.
Now, Robyn knows that if there had been more awareness around rabies at the time, her mum might still be here. She said: “Looking back now, that’s one of the hardest things to accept. If we’d understood the risk and known she needed urgent treatment immediately, everything could have been different. We would have pushed her to get the treatment and it would have saved her life.”
Robyn is now campaigning for greater awareness of rabies to help prevent other families experiencing the same heartbreak.
She said: “I wish there were more awareness, more awareness when booking holidays about the risk of potential exposure in certain high-risk countries. I wish someone had told us that there is no such thing as ‘just a scratch’ when it comes to rabies.
“I wish we’d known that washing the wound thoroughly and getting post-exposure treatment immediately can save your life. That lack of awareness cost us our mum.”
Speaking about Yvonne, Robyn describes her as “the heart” of their family. “She was funny, warm, caring and incredibly selfless. She had so much life left to live. She and my dad, Ron, had worked hard all their lives and were enjoying making memories together.
“Mum loved animals and would never have imagined that a friendly looking puppy could pose such a danger. That’s one of the biggest misconceptions people have. She would never want any harm to come to the dog.”
The scratch wasn’t the result of a vicious attack but a chance encounter that would have devastating consequences.
Robyn said: “It was a stray puppy that didn’t seem threatening. That’s exactly why people need to understand that you can’t judge the risk by how the animal behaves or how serious the injury looks.”
Robyn is now working with Worldwide Veterinary Service and its Mission Rabies program to ensure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“After losing Mum, I felt I had to do something,” she said. “I couldn’t change what had happened to our family, but I could help stop it happening to somebody else’s.”
Rabies is present in more than 150 countries, including popular holiday destinations such as Turkey, Morocco and Thailand.